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William Lee
on
June 4, 2011

On a moral plane the business of murdering former associates is one thing, but the significance of this particular hit, some might say, is seen in the fact that it was publicized, gloated over, bragged about – all the the people who presumably ordered it. The actual hit-men were given public awards, emphasizing this fact.This is to say that official murder, heretofore official policy but concealed, is now touted as an official public policy. Furthermore, this policy is promoted as a public good. Ukase replaces law – a form of codification of morality. The “ethics” of a few openly and publicly replace a system of law that traces to King Alfred!

On a larger scale though, this murder and the numerous other ongoing murders seem to parallel a strategy sometimes called “pop-up”. Pop-up strategies are intended to induce a putative opponent to respond. Pearl Harbor was a result of a pop-up strategy. Some may suspect that the OBL hit et seq are facets of a strategy intended to create public consent for the liquidation of Pakistan as a state.

Not to go on forever here, but the murder, the pop-up suggestion, and so on, call into question the matter of intent. Is atropos intent? There are several kinds of intent, structural, deliberate, stated, interactive, dialectical, and so on. It is unclear to what extent their lordships harbor or understand these various kinds of intent. Gore Vidal spoke of Bush-the-Younger, likening him to a child tossing matches in a bone-dry forest, suggesting some sort of interactive intent. The OBL business may be similar.